Okiku (Osomatsu-kun)
'Okiku ' (お菊) is a special character in Osomatsu-kun, created by Fujio Akatsuka. She is the heroine of the Edo-era story "Iyami Alone in the Wind", loosely based from the Charlie Chaplin film "City Lights". Although evidence outside the chapter suggests that she is simply intended to be an alternate identity of Totoko, this is also left up for debate by one other piece of Fujio Pro content as well. She inspired the -san character of Kiku, in its own version of the chapter, though that version has plenty of her own differences (and is mostly obviously made a separate character from Totoko, who also exists in that adaptation) Overview As a character role exclusive to one of Akatsuka's feature film-based chapters, Okiku plays the supporting role to Iyami and drives his desire to see her cured at whatever cost. Personality & Characteristics Appearance Okiku is a young girl designed in the style of Akatsuka heroines such as Akko and Totoko, bearing a similar build and facial features. Initially, her eyes are shut due to her blindness and her features are less in focus, but when she is shown after a short time-skip as a young woman and with her eyes visible the resemblance becomes more apparent. She wears a floral-patterned kimono and sandals, and wears her hair tied up in a bun, which is adorned with a ribbon and a golden hair comb. In a color illustration for the manga seen in the Akebono collection, the kimono is depicted as blue with a red obi, and the pattern is white hatch marks instead of flowers. The kimono is interpreted as pink for the 1990 OVA, while bright yellow for the pachinko game cut-scenes. Personality She is a kind and innocent young woman, selling flowers for the town but having hardships due to her blindness. Iyami is touched by her plight, and she marks a change in his ways, from him being a lazy ronin to working however he can to have her cured and able to see. As with Totoko, she is idolized by many young men who desire to be with her. She is fond of Iyami and grateful for the help he gave her, but is left to wonder whatever happened to him as he chooses to not identify himself before her after she regains her eyesight. Relationships Iyami Main article: Iyami The most significant connection Okiku has comes with Iyami, who takes it upon himself to live with her and take care of her, as well as work at whatever means he can to raise money for her surgery. She looks upon him as her benefactor, with the considerable age difference between them having him act as a sort of father or uncle figure. Wakachibi Main article: Chibita The lord Wakachibi (Chibita) has deep feelings for her that drive his jealousy towards Iyami, and the sextuplets are shown to be another particular group of characters who are friendly and admiring of her. It is shown that no matter how much Wakachibi pursues her, Okiku rejects him. This is only applicable to the original manga, as the OVA changed Chibita to be a friend of Iyami and a fellow beggar. History By chance, Iyami encountered Okiku while she was attempting to sell flowers and a man rudely pushed her. He soon realized that she was blind, after noticing she could not see the flowers she dropped. He would learn that others tricked her, as well as her lack of parentage, and wind up feeling sympathy for her. Iyami would decide to have her live with him and dedicate his life to making her able to see once more, taking up difficult jobs yet being unable to reach the high costs of treatment (937,000) yen by a Dr. Castella in Nagasaki. This became complicated by the meddling of a young lord named Wakachibi, who had his own feelings for Okiku and would sabotage Iyami's attempts. Although Wakachibi would offer to cure Okiku's blindness himself, she was adamant that Iyami would see his promise through and refused. After Iyami was told that Dr. Castella would return home to Holland, Wakachibi had overhead this due to a spy and realized that Okiku may not be cured. Wakachibi engineered a situation for Iyami to steal his money for the treatment, but soon ordered his arrest afterwards, after Okiku was taken away on horse to Nagasaki. Four years passed before Iyami's release from prison, where he had become shabby and lost a tooth, and wound up living amongst beggars. In the meantime, Okiku had grown up into a young woman and began working at a tea house. She encountered Iyami being bullied by children and ordered them to stop, treating the man to food. Okiku revealed that she was able to see due to a man named Iyami, and that she was looking forward to seeing him again. However, Iyami could not bear to let Okiku see him as the shabby and unkempt figure he had become, and denied that he could be him. He let Okiku wonder what happened to the man, and took his leave, wishing her happiness. Elsewhere, Wakachibi had attempted to court a girl he believed to be Okiku, not knowing that it had been another person surgically-altered to resemble her. This false Okiku turned out to be much more violent and brutish, leaving Wakachibi to wonder why she had changed so greatly. Trivia * Due to Okiku serving in a role similar to Totoko for that of the sextuplets and being a heroine-type figure with an identical face, there are those that question if she is simply an alternate identity played by Totoko in the story (like an actor in a movie, and as with Chibita as "Wakachibi") or if she was indeed designed as a separate character. There is some evidence pointing to her being Totoko, such as Totoko being shown in the role for an illustration that decorated the Akatsuka Memorial Hall and Naoko Matsui's name being attributed to "Totoko" (instead of Okiku) on the back of the VHS for ''Iyami Alone in the Wind. ''As in the manga, there is certainly no "Totoko" that appears in the story, but there is definitely only an Okiku. * The Fujio Pro world map on Koredeiinoda opts to treat Totoko and Okiku as separate roles, however, showing Okiku still wondering about Iyami's whereabouts while Totoko is depicted conversing with Moko. Category:Female Characters Category:Minor Characters